Successful Destruction of Compassion

Sleeping in public is now a criminal offence in certain areas of shepway.

If you fancy a lie-down in Radnor Park during a balmy summer afternoon, or want to take a nap on a bench on the Leas, Think again – it’s now a crime to lie down or have a nap on a bench. Tired driver thinking of pulling over for a nap in your car? Better just to plough on and not stop in Folkestone – it could land you in court.

A year ago Shepwayvox brought you the post SDC’s Beggar & Homelessness Traps; which was about Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs). PSPO’s are unprecedented ‘blank cheque’ powers, which allow a single council official to ban activities in public spaces within a matter of days, after a brief consultation with the police.

The most malicious byproduct of the PSPO epidemic has been the targeting of the homeless and destitute. SDC have banned sleeping in any of the town’s open spaces – as well as in any vehicle, caravan or tent.

Shepway District Council were the first council in Kent to introduce these powers

The violation of a PSPO is a criminal offence.

SDC’s  pspo allows for the regulation of potential activities and potential effects: the council can restrict activities which have not yet taken place, which it judges ‘are likely to have…a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’.

After Shepway banned sleeping in public, the groups of homeless people simply disappeared overnight, apparently to neighbouring towns.

Now the Rainbow Centre’s excellent Winter Shelter do an wonderful job in helping the less fortunate among us. Last year 183 volunteers gave 5512 hours or unpaid service – working over 84 nights, providing 889 bedspaces.

We’d like to say thank you to everyone one of you.

The Winter Shelter completed its seventh year in 2015/16, providing food and an emergency bed space for homeless people in Shepway from December to February. 90% of the clients accessing the service had some form of mental health difficulty. A shocking statistic.

If you can afford it, we’d ask you to  Donate to this excellent and worthy cause.

For a more in depth report see Manifesto’s report on PSPO’s,SDC are mentioned four times.

Shepwayvox